Old to New

My new obsession is taking old sweaters from the thrift store and turning them into new, exciting things.

Luckily, sweaters are coming cheap right now, since everybody's gearing up for spring. I found a bunch of 100% wool sweaters at a local thrift store for three bucks each (they were normally six dollars apiece).

So, without further ado, I ran them through the wash (hot water to felt them), and chopped them up.

The trimmings go into a separate pile...more on that later. Then cut shapes from them - like a big rectangle and a smaller rectangle for this needle book:

And embroider. This is a design of my own making. The picture above is the outside cover opened out so you can see the whole thing, but this is what the front looks like:

Then the first "page"

And the next...

And finally, the back cover:

On the first page, I store sewing needles:

And on the second, pins:

I'm really in love with this - it's attractive enough to leave on the coffeetable (because we all know that I'll leave it on the coffeetable one way or the other, so why not make it pretty), but it's also a little bit more portable than your average pincushion. I can totally see myself throwing this into a bag to take on a roadtrip, but a pincushion, not so much.